


Burgers and Apologies

by Kamemor



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-01-28
Packaged: 2018-05-16 21:55:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5842363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamemor/pseuds/Kamemor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set directly after the end of "The Reverse Flash Returns". Harry expected to be able to drop off Joe and Cisco's burgers and then head off to eat in peace, but Joe has other ideas. He's noticed the way Harry has been treating Cisco, and isn't very pleased about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burgers and Apologies

**Author's Note:**

> I love Harry as a character, but he's been pretty awful to Cisco so I was starting to get annoyed at him. Then he got all panicky when Cisco's powers started glitching, and it was one of those 'aww, you do care' moments. I wonder if Harry realises that he's basically adopted Cisco? So, I figured, who better to give him a lecture about his terrible parenting skills than Joe, the king of Overprotective Dads?

After Harry had retrieved his burger order from a rather bored looking young woman on a moped (Big Belly Burger’s delivery service made life slightly easier when one’s face was still associated with a convicted murder), he returned to the Cortex. Barry was no longer there, having been called away earlier by a text message. Harry suspected that the message had been related to his persistent, irritating girlfriend woes, which probably explained why he hadn’t returned. Cisco had been confined to his bed for the night on Dr Snow’s orders, so he was obviously still there, and Joe West was sitting by his bedside. When he saw Harry, the detective stood up and walked over to him. Harry held out his burger, but he didn’t take it. Instead, he motioned to the side lab that Harry had been using earlier.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?” Harry nodded, frowning, and followed the other man into the lab and out of Cisco’s earshot. West leaned against one of the desks, and folded his arms. Harry wondered if perhaps he should be worried. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of the man, considering their various less than civil interactions in the past. However, West’s expression wasn’t particularly angry, so it seemed he was unlikely to get shot at again. Harry tilted his head and raised his eyebrows in a ‘Well?’ sort of gesture, prompting the detective to say his piece.

“I wanted to thank you for helping save Cisco.” Well, that was unexpected. “We never would have thought to send Thawne back if it wasn’t for you. So, thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” said Harry automatically, still processing the unexpected gratitude. When his brain finally caught up, he continued. “Ramon’s a good kid. I wasn’t going to let him die. He may be annoying, but he doesn’t deserve that.” West nodded.

“You’re right, he doesn’t.” His expression hardened, and Harry suddenly felt defensive. His eyes flickered to the handgun in the holster beneath the other man’s arm. “You know what else he doesn’t deserve?” It was clear that West expected a response, so Harry shook his head fractionally, frowning. “The way you’ve been treating him.” Harry was taken aback.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh yes, you do,” said West, taking a step forward and getting perilously close to Harry’s personal space. “Barry told me what you did with Dr Light’s mask in order to activate Cisco’s powers. How could you possibly have thought it was okay to deliberately trigger one of the kid’s worst memories?”

“I...” Harry tried to interrupt to defend himself, but West had a point to make and wasn’t going to stop until he’d made it.

“I don’t think you realise just how horrible Cisco’s experiences with the other Wells were. He looked up to him; he was basically a father figure to him. And then that guy he looked up to like a father turned out to be a bad guy and murdered him in an alternate timeline _which he still remembers_. That’s enough to mess anyone up. And the last thing he needs is someone with the same face reminding him of that every day. And yes, I know you can’t help the fact that Reverse Flash basically stole your identity,” West said, stopping Harry’s half-formed protests. “But you could at least bear that in mind once in a while.” Harry glared at him, angry at being told off by someone who had no authority over him. But, he grudgingly had to admit that the detective had a point. He had perhaps been a little insensitive in his annoyance at being treated badly simply because another man had stolen his face. He grimaced, and sighed.

“I see your point.”

“Damn right, you should. I spent six months trying to help Cisco deal with what the other Wells did to him, and he’s only just starting to move past it. The last thing he needs is you deliberately using those memories against him, no matter how much you think you’re acting for the greater good. I know you’re desperate to save your daughter- I get that. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do if something happened to Iris or Barry, or Wally. But what do you think your daughter would say if she knew how you were treating other people in the name of rescuing her?”

Harry wanted to be angry, to tell West that he had no idea what he was talking about and to leave his daughter out of this, but his words had hit rather close to home. Perhaps ironically, West was the only person who _did_ know what he was talking about when it came to doing drastic things to protect one’s child. And Harry couldn’t help but picture Jesse’s face when she’d confronted him about the particle accelerator. At the time, he’d been proud of her for standing up to him like that, but he couldn’t help but be ashamed when he thought about how she might react if she ever learned of the things he had done in order to save her.

It seemed that West had seen some of his thoughts on his face, because the detective seemed to feel he had adequately made his point. He held out a hand, and Harry handed over his burger. West made to walk out the door, and then stopped. He gestured with his head in the direction of Cisco’s bed.

“I’ll leave you two alone.” West didn’t say it out loud, but his expression was easy to read. ‘ _And you’d better apologise for the way you’ve been behaving, or you’re going to have to answer to me_ ,’ was the unspoken continuation of his sentence. His point made, he turned and walked out of the lab and then out of the Cortex, waving goodbye to Cisco as he went.

Harry frowned at his back as he left, and then pulled a face. He always hated being reprimanded, especially when the person had a valid point. Now he thought back, he had been very blunt, and even cruel in his interactions with Cisco. He had rationalised it at the time as being a necessary evil due to the urgency of his plans, but that had been before he had gotten to know the younger man. Actually, that was a lie. Within the last 24 hours he had chosen to deliberately scare him into using his powers, despite having spent enough time with him to know how badly he had been affected by his experiences with the Reverse Flash. He sighed. Detective West had been right, no matter how much it pained him to admit it. Jesse definitely wouldn’t approve of the way he had been behaving since crossing over to this other Earth.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a rather loud growling from his stomach, and he was reminded of the fact that he hadn’t eaten for a substantial number of hours. He looked down at the paper bags in his hands, and remembered that one of them contained Cisco’s order. He should probably hand that over before disappearing off to enjoy his food in peace.

Wandering through the Cortex and into the medical lab, he stopped in the doorway.

“Hey, Ramon.” Cisco looked up. “Got your burgers.” Cisco sat up in his bed and grinned appreciatively. Harry chucked him the paper bag, pitching it so that it would land in his lap even if he missed the catch. Which he did. Apparently almost phasing out of existence messed with one’s hand-eye coordination a little. Either that, or Cisco just couldn’t catch. However, Cisco didn’t seem to care and ripped into the bag enthusiastically.

“Now this is what I call hospital food,” he said, around a mouthful of burger. Harry rolled his eyes and made to leave him to enjoy his food. He’d talk to the younger man later once he’d actually formulated some sort of apology. Unfortunately, it seemed like Cisco had other ideas. “Hey, Harry,” he called, and Harry stopped halfway down the ramp to the main Cortex. He turned around reluctantly, expecting some manner of sass.

“What?”

“Thanks.” Harry was taken aback once again. “Caitlin told me you were the one who came up with the idea of sending Reverse Flash back to his time. So thanks for preventing me from going all Force ghost and winking out of existence.” Harry rolled his eyes at the unnecessary movie reference, waved his hand in a ‘think nothing of it’ gesture and made to leave, but he then thought better of it. He walked back into the medical lab and leaned against one of the counters. He opened his mouth to speak, but he still hadn’t worked out exactly what he was going to say so nothing happened. Cisco frowned at him.

“What?”

“I, uh...” he stammered to a halt again, sighed, and forged ahead anyway. “I wanted to apologise.”

“For what? You saved my life, man. You don’t have to apologise for that.”

“It’s not that. It’s... I’m sorry for scaring you earlier. It was uncalled for.” Cisco frowned at him like he was being ridiculous.

“Don’t worry about it. I know you were just trying to help me work out my powers. Besides, if you hadn’t, we wouldn’t have realised the Reverse Flash was back.” Harry suppressed a frown. Cisco wasn’t exactly making this easy for him.

“It’s not just that. When we were looking for Dr Light, I... I deliberately made you remember something unpleasant and I shouldn’t have. I know you were hurt by the other Harrison Wells, and I intentionally used that against you. I shouldn’t have done that, so I apologise.” Cisco looked at him, and Harry couldn’t quite work out what his expression meant.

“Dude, it’s okay. I know you’re just desperate to save your daughter. It wasn’t a nice thing to do, but I understand why you did it.” Harry was incredulous, and it must have shown on his face because Cisco chuckled. “Well, would you look at that? Harry Wells, master of the sarcastic comeback, shocked into speechlessness.”

“I thought... I thought you’d be angry at me.”

“Look, Harry, I spent a lot of time being angry at the Reverse Flash for what he did to me. To my friends. And I’m still angry at him. But I don’t like being angry. It harshes my vibe, man.” Harry shot him a look, and Cisco laughed. “What I’m saying is it takes a lot of energy to be mad at people for things. Sometimes it’s just better for everyone if you forgive them. Especially if you understand why they did what they did.” Harry looked at Cisco, the expression on his face halfway between a grateful smile and a confused frown. This certainly wasn’t the response he had expected. “That said,” Cisco continued, holding up a finger, “I’m still waiting for some apologies for some of the other stuff you’ve been doing.” Harry’s expression morphed into an indignant frown.

“I’m serious, dude. You invaded my workroom, you throw my stuff around when you’re in a bad mood, and that’s not even mentioning your bad habit of leaving burger wrappers everywhere, and your frankly offensive taste in music...” Harry rolled his eyes, and shook his head. Evidently emotions hour was over, and they were back to their usual bickering dynamic.

“Don’t push your luck, Ramon.” He stood up, and made to walk out of the room. Then, he paused in the doorway. “You know, I wasn’t kidding when I asked if you had money earlier. You’re paying for your own burgers.” Cisco’s only response was to throw his balled up burger bag at Harry’s head. Evidently his aim was better than his catching skills, as Harry had to duck to avoid getting greasy paper to the face. He turned away and strode out of the Cortex, making sure Cisco didn’t see the fond smile that crept unbidden across his face. Then he shook his head, rolled his eyes, and headed off to find some peace and quiet to enjoy his burger.


End file.
